I've only been playing DG for a little over 2yrs. now and the entire time I've known the game I have owned a Iowa Tour tag. For $20 you get all the above mentioned perks and it's only $20, we've all spent more on plastic that is lying in the woods/pond/someone else's bag...Are there flaws with the tour, of course, but that's where we need to step in and help fix those flaws, I'll get the ball rolling....Ideally I would want everyone to have a tag (not realistic I know) but obviously the more people the more challenges. I would also like a Iowa Tour presence on Facebook, Twitter, IowaDG or any other social media we are all plugged into so there can be challenges laid down between tag owners. The beauty of having a tag to challenge is that it makes rec rounds that much more competitive when you want to beat someone for that lower #. If there were challenges laid down on a weekly basis, we could offer 1pt. for a successful tag defense, 5pts. for a tag upset etc. That would only add to the current point system and offer people chances to play catch up if they miss a tournament. We would be able to track how many times a certain tag changes hands, report the challenges, and see who is dominating the tour. The point system needs a overhaul also, more real-time stat keeping (which I realize takes man hours, which I am more than willing to offer up). The bones of the Iowa Tour is a solid format, it just needs help, and Shane does enough for the DG community for this to fall on his shoulders also.
Those are only a few ideas I was able to suggest in the 5min. it took me to type this rant, I'd love to hear what you all think and would change......
Last thing...Here is why the tags are great, I was able to catch Claring on an off day at a Monday Night Throwdown and take his #2 tag, I'm an average AM player and I consider Claring one of the best old timers around here...beating him gave me the push I needed to try and take this game a little more seriously, and beating him wouldn't have meant anything without that $20 plastic tag hanging from my bag....

Discin'Cider49514 wrote:Last thing...Here is why the tags are great, I was able to catch Claring on an off day at a Monday Night Throwdown and take his #2 tag, I'm an average AM player and I consider Claring one of the best old timers around here...beating him gave me the push I needed to try and take this game a little more seriously, and beating him wouldn't have meant anything without that $20 plastic tag hanging from my bag....

Some one beat me at Grandview? I'm shocked, that course kicks my ass. And I recall you made every putt that night inside of 75ft

SpikeHyzer wrote:Here's a few bullet points on what joining the Iowa Tour gets you.

CTP at every tour stop with a value of at least $30

Various dg related prizes to be handed out at the last tour stop

Lowest tag per available division will win 1 of the 5 prizes

Something to make a casual round a little more competitive

Tracking of stats for IT tournaments(I understand that this is subjective for some)

Now, the below rant could go in a different thread, but it does somewhat relate to the Iowa Tour in the fact that attendance for the IT seems be fairly low. So I am going to post it here.

I will say that I think the over abundance of tournaments has really hampered the Iowa Tour in the past. I am guessing if it is ran again next year, it will have the same issues with numbers. Now, I will say this and it is with all due respect, as I am friends with most of these guys(Not to mention they are giving of their own time and money for the sport we all love). But in my opinion the real issue is all the vendor ran tournaments. We don't need to have 14-16 tournaments in the IC/CR area. We don't need 8-10 tournaments in the QC area. I haven't seen the full tourney list for DSM yet, so I can't comment on those right now. With vendors coming out of the woodwork, are we looking at the fact that vendor ran tournaments are the culprit in the watered down competition we are seeing at local tournaments?

A few stats about old versus new. In my opinion, old was a whole lot more fun. These are straight from the pdga site.

Attendance for this years DSM Open was 88 and a pro purse of $840.

Attendance for the 2003 DSM Open was 205 and a pro purse of $1,875.

Attendance for the 2012 Rumble was 73 and a purse of $1,525.

Attendance for the 2006 Rumble was 120 and a purse of $3,680.

Attendance for the 2012Graceland Open was 79 and a purse of $1,370.

Attendance for the 2004 Graceland Open was 109 and a purse of $1,704.

In 2003, we had 16 sanctioned tournaments total in the state of Iowa. In 2012 we had 39.

in 2008. when I started looking for dates for the Shawn Geers Memorial, DSM had 19 dates. You remeber Big Ivy, Pickard Open, Dsm Open, Dsm Challege, Newton, Edgewood, Ewing Dubs, GVCCC, Something at Walnut,etc. Point is you guys use to do the same, and it worked , but it was the only show to go to. There was always somewhere to go. 2003 is a mute pointm, it was pre 04 worlds. DSM was established long before anyone else. We had Legion of Doom and Ace Hunt in "06. The QC has added more than a half a dozen courses since 04, Its growing, why not run something at these great courses. Oh yeah gas is 3 dollars and Ams dont travel as much as they use to. And all but 2 tourneys Titan does, AO, Kevin, I ran before Titan, Chase vended, either way. they were happening. PS I suck at typing./

I wasn't trying to call you guys out Frog, but was more trying to make a point that we don't need to have 30+ tournaments sanctioned in our state.

You are correct Frog, DSM used to be the one to host a bunch of tourney's when other areas of the state weren't as developed yet. Since then, various other metro areas have developed disc golf, it would seem as though DSM has scaled back their amount of tournaments. I don't think that this is a direct correlation as much as a coincidence though. Also, with the increase in courses, you can use those to create and put on much bigger and higher tier tournaments, rather than hosting more tournaments. And as for Am's traveling, if the amount of tournaments were reduced and TD's were to up the payouts available, then I would be willing to bet that Am's would travel more often than they currently are.

I do agree that the price of gas probably does effect the traveling, but at the same time, I would also say that it has increased car pooling among players.

As for 03 being a moot point, I would disagree. In 2004, 2005 and even in 2006, the attendance of tournaments as well as payouts, were greater than they are today on average(This was pre Proflight/Titan/Iron Lion/Vicious Circle).

And all but 2 tourneys Titan does, AO, Kevin, I ran before Titan, Chase vended, either way.

also need to check your math, the tournies you listed only come to 9 and two of which are not DSM
Also in 2008 the Big Ivy and Walnut tournies combined into 1 tourney so that only makes 8.
Frog how about the pictures you were going to send me 6 weeks ago, tell me you have the discs I am interested in and not follow through

Last edited by claring on Tue Dec 04, 2012 9:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.

A lot of AMs don't travel because there isn't a need to. If I miss a DSM or QC tourny it doesn't matter because there is one closer the next weekend or the following. Every year I say I want to play as many as possible but it just doesn't happen. Maybe this year but I don't need more plastic and I'm not competing with the pros so why spend $100 on a trip somewhere if I can stay home and have fun. Not that I won't travel for some tournaments but it's just not worth it to me every weekend.

I have put nothing into this conversation. Good luck Conrad and I have always like the IA tour because above all ELSE it is for a good cause and I'll buy a tag. Who knows I may show up for a few this year and if not I don't care.

claring wrote:also need to check your math, the tournies you listed only come to 9 and two of which are not DSMAlso in 2008 the Big Ivy and Walnut tournies combined into 1 tourney so that only makes 8. Frog how about the pictures you were going to send me 6 weeks ago, tell me you have the discs I am interested in and not follow through

I said 2008, what I meant was looking back at 2007 for 2008, please look back Chris there was more than 8.

This has got wayyyyyy off topic...but on the subject of Am's traveling; I think there are a lot of Am's that will travel for the right tournament. But if you run an average C or B tier at a good course you probably wont draw as many players as you possibly could. There are a number of Am's that travel out of state at least 4-5 times a year (for the right tournament).

With that being said there are a lot of Des Moines "pro's" that don't hardly travel at all either. Example: The Quad City Championship, the best tournament I played last year and there was one player from Des Moines?? And it was Tanner. The Jankeny Summer fest was the same weekend and I guess most of you Des Moines "pro's" stuck around for that!

claring wrote:also need to check your math, the tournies you listed only come to 9 and two of which are not DSMAlso in 2008 the Big Ivy and Walnut tournies combined into 1 tourney so that only makes 8. Frog how about the pictures you were going to send me 6 weeks ago, tell me you have the discs I am interested in and not follow through

I said 2008, what I meant was looking back at 2007 for 2008, please look back Chris there was more than 8.